High-Throughput Determination of Mercury in Tobacco and Mainstream Smoke from Little Cigars

Abstract

A method was developed that utilizes a platinum trap for mercury from mainstream tobacco smoke which represents an improvement over traditional approaches that require impingers and long sample preparation procedures. In this approach, the trapped mercury is directly released for analysis by heating the trap in a direct mercury analyzer. The method was applied to the analysis of mercury in the mainstream smoke of little cigars. The mercury levels in little cigar smoke obtained under Health Canada Intense smoking machine conditions ranged from 7.1 × 10−3 mg/m3 to 1.2 × 10−2 mg/m3. These air mercury levels exceed the chronic inhalation Minimal Risk Level corrected for intermittent exposure to metallic mercury (e.g., 1 or 2 hours per day, 5 days per week) determined by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Multivariate statistical analysis was used to assess associations between mercury levels and little cigar physical design properties. Filter ventilation was identified as the principal physical parameter influencing mercury concentrations in mainstream little cigar smoke generated under ISO machine smoking conditions. With filter ventilation blocked under Health Canada Intense smoking conditions, mercury concentrations in tobacco and puff number (smoke volume) were the primary physical parameters that influenced mainstream smoke mercury concentrations.

Characterization of SPECTRUM Variable Nicotine Research Cigarettes

“…14 Dried tobacco was analyzed for mercury using a combustion mercury analyzer as previously described 15 with minor modification. 16 Quality control was maintained throughout using Reference tobacco 1S3 (North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA) and certified reference material (CRM) CTA-OTL-1 (Instytucie Chemii i Techniki Jadrowej, Warszawa, Poland) as previously described. 14,16 Results are reported as the mean and standard deviations of 5 replicate analyses.…”

Flavors and Risk: Perceptions of Flavors in Little Cigars and Cigarillos Among U.S. Adults, 2015

“…However, the concern that flavorings generally recognized as safe in food products may not be as safe for inhalation 12,15 is equally valid for LCCs. Given the many LCC ingredients other than flavors already identified as harmful, or potentially harmful, [16][17][18] it is unclear whether flavor additives could present any additional, significant harm. Still, the way in which these popular flavorings are perceived by users and potential users, and the relationship between these perceptions and use, are worthy of investigation.…”

Recent Studies on the Speciation and Determination of Mercury in Different Environmental Matrices Using Various Analytical Techniques

“…The other alternative to measure the accuracy of the data is the analysis of CRMs. A large number of studies [ 45 , 47 , 55 , 56 , 58 – 67 ] reported the analysis of CRMs to validate their data. Regarding QC, most of the studies reported the RSD values for replicate sample analysis and/or standard materials analysis.…”

“…Following water samples, the most frequently analyzed material for mercury was seafood samples, such as fish, shrimp, and seaweed. A few studies reported the determination of mercury in various environmental samples, such as petroleum hydrocarbons [ 88 ], human hair [ 89 , 90 ], phosphate fertilizers [ 53 ], glycerin [ 91 ], sediments [ 55 , 92 , 93 ], cosmetics [ 94 ], living cells [ 66 , 95 ], and tobacco [ 67 ]. However, a few methods [ 74 , 81 , 87 , 96 – 101 ] did not report their applicability to natural samples.…”